Top-lot status was awarded to “A Fox Hunt in Full Cry” by John Nost Sartorius (British, 1759-1828), circa 1792, oil on canvas, 40 by 63⅛ inches framed, which was deaccessioned from the Yale University Art Gallery and brought $17,550 ($10/15,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
LITCHFIELD, CONN. — On July 29, Litchfield Auctions conducted its Fine Art, Antiques & Design auction, which featured 282 lots of property from several notable collections, including fine art deaccessioned from Yale University Art Gallery, a lifelong Rhode Island antiques collector and more. It earned an 84 percent sell-through rate.
Fine art led the day, with a circa 1792 oil on canvas by British artist John Nost Sartorius deaccessioned from the Yale University Art Gallery earning top-lot status at $17,550. Titled “A Fox Hunt in Full Cry,” the painting had additional provenance to Brenda Moore (née Hughes Eagle, d 1999), Paul Moore, Jr (1919-2003) and Hollow Hill Farm in Convent, N.J.
Following behind at $7,800, far ahead of its $700-$1,200 estimate, was “Portrait of an Old Man,” done after Rembrandt van Rijn. The Seventeenth Century Dutch oil on panel was given to the Yale University Art Gallery in 1926 by its original owner, Duncan Phillips (1886-1966) of Washington, DC.
Portraits continued to be popular with bidders, as an oil on canvas portrait of Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, after Thomas Lawrence earned more than ten times its $600 high estimate at $6,370. Completed after 1824, the work, which was relined and had moderate craquelure throughout, had provenance to a Chester Dudley Tripp of Chicago, who bequeathed it to the Yale University Art Gallery in 1974.
Lilian Westcott Hale’s (American, 1880-1963) “Portrait of a Young Woman,” graphite drawing on Strathmore drawing board, 22½ by 19 inches framed, came from the estate of Raymond and Eleanor Jacobs and made $4,940 ($1/2,000).
“Portrait of a Young Woman” by Lilian Westcott Hale continued the trend, serving up an above-estimate $4,940 ($1/2,000). The graphite drawing was done on paper embossed with the Strathmore Drawing Board mark and was consigned from the estate of Raymond and Eleanor Jacobs.
Contemporary Vermont artist Sabra Field (b 1935) was represented by seven separate landscape artist’s proof woodblock prints, all consigned from a Sharon, Conn., home. Prices ranged from $910 for “The Bell Tower” to $2,990 for “Farm Barn.”
Furniture was the leading category by lot, with slightly more than 160 items offered. The third-highest price of the sale — $6,370 — was awarded to a pair of Pennsylvania or New York root wood armchairs in their original worn, dark finish. Made circa 1890, the pair was purchased from Burt Savage of Larch Lodge Rustic Furniture (Center Strafford, N.H.) and was consigned from the same Connecticut home as the Sabra Field prints.
Besting its $2/3,000 estimate to make $4,810 was a teak outdoor furniture set from Kingsley Bate: a Hyannis extension table and ten St Tropez chairs, which sold together. With two folding leaves at 17½ inches each, the table was able to fully expand to 118 inches in length.
Sold for $4,810 was this Kingsley Bate outdoor dining set with a Hyannis extension table and ten St Tropez chairs ($2/3,000).
Textiles were topped by a palace-sized Persian Tabriz silk rug from Iran, 13 feet 4 inches by 20 feet 5 inches, which was imported by M. Kazemi and Company Incorporated. The carpet had floral sprays, a central pole medallion with a dark blue ground surrounded by a cream field with rose and taupe colors and a border with floral scroll palmettes. The rug rolled out for $3,250.
A 67-piece sterling silver flatware service for 12 by Wallace in the Rose Point pattern from a Westport, Conn., collection led silver selections at $3,640. Bidders were also charmed by a large group of American sterling silver tableware, mostly from the Twentieth Century ($2,990) and an early Twentieth Century five-piece coffee and tea service by Jennings Silver Company in Pattern number 1400 ($2,730).
A unique lot that attracted a $3,380 finish was “L’Oubli du Temps (The Forgetting of Time),” a gilt bronze and marble figural mantle clock attributed to Claude Galle. Made in the early Nineteenth Century, the 19½-inch-tall clock had some worn gilding and was consigned from a Westchester County, N.Y., collection.
Litchfield Auctions’ next sale will be its Annual Estates Tag Sale on August 28, followed by a Fine Jewelry sale on September 23.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.litchfieldauctions.com or 860-567-4661.
